Axel Lidenbrock

Crossing Cultures 1: Power Distance and Uncertainty Avoidance

Consider this, if you will:

Our shared human nature is intensely social: we are group animals. We use
language and empathy, and practice collaboration and intergroup
competition. But the unwritten rules of how we do these things differ from
one human group to another. "Culture" is how we call these unwritten rules
about how to be a good member of the group. Culture provides moral
standards about how to be an upstanding group member; it defines the group
as a "moral circle". It inspires symbols, heroes, rituals, laws, religions, taboos,
and all kinds of practices - but its core is hidden in unconscious values that
change at a far slower rate than the practices.

Geert and Gert Jan Hofstede http://www.geerthofstede.nl/

Cross cultural studies are not something that seem to get much focus on most training courses
(either initial or in-service types) but they seem to me to be a rich resource, especially, but not
exclusively, for those of us working in multi-lingual classrooms, because multi-lingual implies multi-
cultural, too.

Cross-cultural studies are closely associated with international business studies because it is this
area that getting business done and making agreements with people from other cultures has been
seen to be crucial. However, English-language teachers also work in cross-cultural situations and, in
a real sense, need to ‘get business done’. Teachers are, first and foremost, managers of the learning
environment and in that environment we are managing people from a variety of cultures who have a
variety of expectations about what a good manager does.

Legitimately, many teachers have been cautious about the danger of stereotyping students in terms
of their cultural backgrounds and remembering that first language does not always = nationality or
culture. Sweeping statements such as Japanese students are quiet and reluctant to speak, Italians
are voluble and Spanish-speaking students don’t care about the grammar are simply generalisations
often based on anecdotal evidence alone. We are right to treat them with some disdain. However,
consider the following exchange between a Greek student and a US teacher:

Teacher: You need to get the project report to me. How long do you need to do it?
Student: I don’t really know. When should I give you it?
Teacher: As soon as you can get it to me. Say next Monday?
Student: Yes, I think that’s possible.
Teacher: Well, let’s be safe and say Tuesday. OK? OK. So that’s agreed. Tuesday it is.
(In fact a lot of things happen in the student’s life and the report is not ready when
Tuesday comes around. The student has worked all weekend and late into Monday
night but it still isn’t finished …)
Teacher: Have you got the report for me?
Student: I can give it to you tomorrow.
Teacher: But we agreed today.
Student: I want to change my class.

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What’s going on here? The key is something called attribution analysis. Here’s how the
conversation goes in the heads of the participants:

Dialogue Attribution
Teacher: You need to get the project report to Teacher: I’m handing him some autonomy here
me. How long do you need to do it? because he’s not a lazy student.
Student: This is a puzzle. Why doesn’t she just
tell me what the deadline is?
Teacher: As soon as you can get it to me. Say Teacher: I’m including him in the decision-
next Monday? making process here and trying to get him to
commit.
Student: Doesn’t she know when it should be
done? She’s the teacher, after all.
Student: Yes, I think that’s possible. Teacher: Good. He’s committed himself.
Student: She’s letting me decide because she
doesn’t know the answer.
Teacher: Well, let’s be safe and say Tuesday. Teacher: I’m offering him a final agreement.
OK? Student: Right. I’ll try for Tuesday but it’s up to
me.
Teacher: Have you got the report for me? Teacher: I am acting as agreed.
Student: I can give it to you tomorrow. I’ve been Student: She is asking for the report but it’s not
working on it all weekend. ready. We agreed it might take a bit longer.
Teacher: But we agreed today. Teacher: I’m holding him to the contract we
Student: I want to change my class. made.
Student: This teacher is inept. She doesn’t know
how long something should take, isn’t clear
about when it should be done and doesn’t
understand how much work I’ve put in. I can’t
stay in this class.

This silly outcome results from a simple fact of culture. The US teacher feels that she should involve
her students in the decision-making process and allow them autonomy to run their own study
programme. The Greek student expects the teacher to tell him clearly what to do and when she
doesn’t, he feels disorientated and doubts his teacher’s competence.

According to the theory there are two conflicts. Greek society is one in which people avoid, if they
can, uncertainty. The culture values clarity and security. US society is much weaker in terms of
avoiding uncertainty and more tolerant of risk and ambiguity. Greek society is much more
hierarchical than US society with clear power roles and quite a lot of power distance between roles.
US culture is more forgiving with a much smaller power distance between roles. The two cultural
dimensions can be plotted against each other on a grid like this. Forty cultures are plotted here so
this is a good source for those of you working in multi-cultural classrooms. Note the large
discrepancy between Greek and USA cultures in terms both of power distance and uncertainty
avoidance.

Of course, these aren’t the only two dimensions that can be plotted against each other. There are at
least six. For more go to the site linked at the end.

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Source: University of Hawaii

Other cultural dimensions, including particularly individualism vs. collectivism seem to be highly
relevant to the ELT classroom but that is for another article.

References:
Geert and Gert Jan Hofstede http://www.geerthofstede.nl/
University of Hawaii, www2.hawaii.edu/~bgaston/340Lecture08.ppt (n.d.), accessed December 2013
(This reference takes you to a very useful PowerPoint presentation in the area of cross-cultural studies.)

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